Speedy Trial Under Article 21: Judicial Recognition And The Continuing Crisis Of Undertrial Detention In India
- IJLLR Journal
- Apr 11
- 2 min read
Prisha J Chanchani, B.A.LL.B. (Hons.), SVKM NMIMS Kirit P. Mehta School of Law, Mumbai
ABSTRACT
The right to a speedy trial has been recognized to be a part of the right to life and personal liberty in Article 21 of the Constitution of India. This is after the historic ruling in Hussainara Khatoon v. State of Bihar, the Indian court has many times pointed out that the long pre-trial detention process is a violation of the fundamental tenets of fairness and process of due procedure. Nevertheless, in spite of such constitutional recognition, the proportion of Undertrial prisoners in the Indian prison population remains a disproportionately large share of the total population, which indicates a chronic disjuncture between constitutional ideals and criminal justice reality.
The paper will be a discussion and analytical treatise on the right to speedy trial in India to be applied to Undertrial prisoners. It compares the development of the Article 21 jurisprudence by the major judicial pronouncements and analyzes the procedural system of criminal trials according to the Code of Criminal Procedure. The paper is based on secondary empirical data, such as National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data and prison statistics and prison conditions reports, to indicate that systemic delays, restrictive practices in bailing, socio-economic deprivation, and inefficiencies in the institutions play as contributing factors to the increased time in undertrial detention.
It states that even though judicial interpretation has greatly extended the right to speedy trial, due to lack of proper procedural enforcement measures, the right has been rendered virtually meaningless in reality. It has ended by highlighting the necessity of structural and procedural changes so as to make constitutional guarantees become relevant to the protection of undertrial prisoners.
Keywords: Right to Speedy Trial, Undertrial Prisoners, Article 21, Criminal Justice System, Procedural Due Process.
